Among the next steps that will be taken in Mantoloking is to start moving back to the beach some of the sand that washed into the bay. / THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

BY THE NUMBERS

A home at East Avenue and Carrigan Place in Mantoloking still shows its damage from superstorm Sandy. / THOMAS P. COSTELLO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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MANTOLOKING — Marjorie Feniello is not sure whether she is better off having her house torn down or trying to salvage what is left.

The 67-year-old is one of thousands of Shore residents trying to decide if moving on means tearing down or attempting to rebuild.

After superstorm Sandy, there was 6 feet of water in her Mantoloking house, her primary residence for 17 years. And despite the work going on around her home, Feniello says little has been accomplished in the rebuilding of her devastated town.

“It still looks like Beirut if you go down there,” she said. “The town looks like it did after Sandy.”

Mantoloking suffered heavily when superstorm Sandy struck Oct. 29, and in a borough where houses were torn apart and tossed aside, the once pristine picture of million-dollar homes had to get worse before it could get better.

Since May officials here have focused on demolishing the many homes damaged so thoroughly, they could not be spared, including one that was picked up and thrown as is into Barnegat Bay. Watch the video at the top of this story to see time-lapse photography capture the demolition of a Sandy-damaged home in Mantoloking.

54 demolitions

As of Tuesday, 50 houses had been demolished, and only two remained on the town’s to-demo list, said Chris Nelson, liaison to the Borough Council and mayor.

“It looks different,” Nelson said, struggling slightly to describe his borough. “It looked different from October 29 on, but we’re cleaning it up.”

Nelson said the borough gave the green light for the final demolition Wednesday.

Once complete, Mantoloking will have seen 54 of its once perfect homes become little more than messy piles of rubble.

For longtime property owners like Feniello, each day is a stark reminder of what was lost. She has been trying to avoid the borough and her home because of the sick feeling that consumes her each time she sees the devastation.

With her own home, she has been trying to weigh whether the cost to elevate, which her research shows could range from $75,000 to $120,000, is worth saving it.

“I’ve hit the wall,” Feniello said. “You don’t know what to do. None of us know what to do. No matter what you do, it costs you.”

Borough officials determined

The borough’s efforts to demolish storm-ravaged homes have moved quickly. Nelson announced to residents June 11 that 26 homes had been torn down, and three weeks later, that number had doubled.

But that was only one part of a massive undertaking to restore Mantoloking to the town they once knew.

While the homes have been taken down, much of the debris remains on individual lots, and removing it will be among the next major tasks, Nelson said.

The borough also is looking to start removing some of the sand that washed into the bay and bringing it back to the beach, he said.